Justyne Caruana dismisses news of resignation: ‘I don’t know from where they got this’

Justyne Caruana has dismissed news of her impending resignation in comments to MaltaToday.

The former Gozo minister insisted the speculation fuelled by a report in the Times of Malta was news to her.

“This is news to me and I have no idea from where they got this story,” Caruana said.

Her name featured alongside that of Etienne Grech in a report published by the Times earlier today. Grech later resigned from parliament, lending credence to the suggestion that Caruana was next.

But in comments to MaltaToday, Caruana dismissed the report.

She had resigned her ministerial post shortly after being re-appointed Gozo minister by Prime Minister Robert Abela in January when her ex-husband, former deputy police commissioner Silvio Valletta, was outed as a friend of murder suspect Yorgen Fenech.

Valletta denied any wrongdoing but the situation made Caruana’s ministerial position untenable.

She remained a Labour MP and chairs the Gozo committee in parliament.

Caruana obtained the second-highest number of votes on the first count in Gozo in the last general election.

She was made Gozo minister in 2017, a post she retained in Abela’s Cabinet after refusing another portfolio. But her ministerial post was truncated when the Valletta link to Fenech was outed.